Born in 1874 to an impoverished, deeply religious family in Elvange, near Mondorf, Nicolas Brücher felt the calling to become a painter from an early age: He fashioned paint brushes from chicken feathers and paint from pollen. His family and teachers tried to convince him to pursue a steady profession in agriculture. The years Brücher spent as a house painter seem to have been a compromise between these worlds (Claude (2) 27, Malget/Thill). When German artist Friedrich Stummel (1850-1919) was painting the vault and walls of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Luxembourg in the Grand Duchy’s capital in 1895, Brücher went to witness his craft and consult the master painter, showing him his own drawings (Claude (2)). Stummel accepted Brücher as a student in his studio in the German town of Kevelaer, near the Dutch border. Impressed by Brücher’s talent and dedication, his teacher waived his tuition fees and paid him a small apprentice’s wage. This training allowed the young artist to familiarise himself with anatomy and proportions, as well as with the medium of fresco painting and the works of the Nazarenes (Claude (4) 6).
Information about Brücher’s studies abroad vary in terms of dates and locations: He may have entered the apprenticeship with Stummel between the ages of 20 and 24, remaining in his studio for 4 to 5 years. According to the majority of sources, Brücher then studied at the Institut National Supérieur des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, where he graduated top of his class (Claude (3) 8). Among his fellow students at the time were Frantz Seimetz and Jean Pierre Huberty from Luxembourg (Claude (2)).
One source claims these studies to have taken place in Amsterdam (N.N. 34).

Brücher was mainly active as a portraitist and church painter, which included stained glass works.
Like his teacher Stummel, he was inspired by the works of the Nazarenes and specialised in large but detailed biblical group scenes and the use of durable mineral paint, as opposed to oil or tempera (Ministère de la culture, 03.04.2019; Claude (3) 9).
As means to support himself financially, Brücher painted several hundred oil portraits (Claude (1)).
Church murals and windows, however, were the true vocation of the deeply religious artist, who also undertook pilgrimages to Rome, Flanders, and Lourdes. Some of the faces he depicted, such as that of Grand Duchess Marie-Adelaïde (1894-1924) in the parish church in Felsen, and, regularly, that of his brother Michel, can also be found in the biblical scenes of his church paintings (Claude (5) 6). Besides 26 churches and chapels all over Luxembourg (among them the Willibrordbasilika in Echternach, St. Henry Church in Esch-sur-Alzette, and the catholic churches in Hollerich and Dommeldange), Brücher painted monumental frescoes and designed window paintings in churches in France (Metz), Belgium (Clairefontaine), Poland (in Warsaw, Lodz, Płock, Radom and Częstochowa), and in the former Russian Empire (in Moscow, Minsk, Kiev, Orel and Poltava) before and during the First World War, when commissions in Luxembourg were few and far between (Claude (4) 4; (5) 9; N.N. 35).
In 1935, he was first commissioned to paint a church. According to press articles, this troubled the artist deeply and was due to the clergy not always appreciating Brücher’s ideas (Claude (5) 6). In 1941, a commissioned church painting could not be executed due to the beginning German Occupation (N.N. 35). Brücher, who was unmarried, remained devoted to his faith and his art:
He kept teaching students in the subject of painting and was drawing and painting religious motives and studying art publications until shortly before he passed away in his native Elvange.
One of his most important murals (painted in1930) still adorns the local church to this day.

A retrospective dedicated to his oeuvre was organised in Elvange in 1989 (Herr).

Władysław (‘Walter’) Drapiewski (1876-1961), with whom he studied in Stummel's studio, asked him to join him and work on an ecclesiastical project in Plock with Czesław Idźkiewicz (1889-1951) (Claude 4 (9)).
The future Moselle painters Nico Klopp and Jos Sünnen were among the young artists who worked in Brücher's studio in the 1920s (Staud).

Over the years, the Nationalmusée um Fëschmaart has collected, respectively received on permanent loan, numerous drawings by Brücher, mostly preparatory studies for church murals.

Martin Gerges (1919-2000), Luxembourg author, publisher and teacher, accumulated an important collection of journals, correspondence and sketch books by Nicolas Brücher, as well as articles and other publications about the artist in his estate. Luxembourg priest and historian Jean Malget (1931-2017) dedicated extensive writing to Nicolas Brücher. Both are preserved in the collection of National Literature Centre (CNL).

Works Cited:

Claude, Rob. "Erinnerung an Nicolas Brücher, den Kirchenmaler der Heimat." Luxemburger Wort 24.07.1957: 15. Print.

Claude, Rob. "Leben und Werk des Luxemburger Künstlers Nikolaus Brücher. Sein Leben." Revue 03.08.1957: 27. Print.

Claude, Rob. "Leben und Werk des Luxemburger Künstlers Nikolaus Brücher." Revue 17.08.1957: 8-11; 30, 14. Print.

Claude, Rob. "Leben und Werk des Luxemburger Künstlers Nikolaus Brücher." Revue 31.08.1957: 8-10, 14. Print.

Claude, Rob. "Leben und Werk des Luxemburger Künstlers Nikolaus Brücher." Revue 14.09.1957: 4-7. Print.

Herr, Lambert. Anthologie des Arts Au Luxembourg. Éditions Émile Borschette, 1992. 50. Print.

Malget, Jean and Norbert Thill. "Kulturelle Kostbarkeiten. Die Skizzenbücher des Nikolaus Brücher.“ Heimat & Mission, 1996, 11/12: 1. Print. (Archives Herr, M16 Brücher, p.20.)

Ministere de la Culture, Commission des sites et monuments nationaux. "Classement en tant que monument de l’église Saint Sébastien de Rumelange (no cadastral 561/1582)." 03.04.2019. https://download.data.public.lu/resources/avis-de-la-commission-des-sites-et-monuments-cosimo-seance-du-3-avril-2019/20190527-144219/eglise-saint-sebastien-rumelange-rumelange-grand-rue.pdf

N.N., L. "Die Nachwelt flocht ihm keine Kränze. Nikolaus Brücher. Sein Leben….und sein Werk." Revue 27.07.1974: 34-35. Print.

Staud, Dr. Richard Maria. "Die Wandmalereien von Nikolaus Brücher in der Pfarrkiche zu Befort.“ Luxemburger Wort, 04.02.1925: 2. Print.